9898048483
United States
- Ondot Couriers & Cargo Ltd- On right Time right Point
- International Air Couriers
- UPS
- FedEx
- DHL
- Naparex
- International Courier Network (ICN)
- Quick International Courier
[edit] Australia
There are several courier companies in Australia which cover most of the land which is both sparsely populated and remote.- Yellow Express Sydney
- Find and Freight Couriers
- Freight Broker Logistics
- Civic Transport
- Parcel Post
- Australian Air Express
- Pack and Send
- AusPost
- Toll / Ipec
- Startrack Express
- Fastway Couriers
- Airroad express
- DHL, FedEx, UPS, AFF
- Courier's Please
- TNT and Hunter Express.
- Allied
- FRF Couriers
- Courier Easy
- Australian Freight
- Courier Quotes Australia
[edit] People's Republic of China
Major players include:[1][2]- Speed Global Logistics Co., Ltd. - On-board Courier, Handcarry, Time Critical Shipment Specialist
- DHL-Sinotrans International Air Courier Ltd.
- Federal Express (China) Co., Ltd.
- UPS Parcel Delivery Co., Ltd.
- China Railway Express Co., Ltd.
- TNT (China) Holdings Co., Ltd.
- SF Express (ShunFeng Express)
- STO (ShenTong Express)
- YTO (YuanTong Express)
Airways Logistics Mumbai - INDIA
[edit] Indonesia
- DHL
- FedEx
- TNT
- DPEX
- UPS
- ARAMEX
- OCS
- Elteha
- JNE
- Titipan Kilat
- Pandu Logistics
- BYGA Cargo
- Herona Express
- Tras Express
- Citilink
- ACI Korindo
- Indo Logistics
[edit] Canada
- Purolator - Domestic and international courier services
- DHL Canada - Worldwide courier services
- ICS Courier - Local and domestic courier services
- Amadeos Courier Express - International and domestic courier services
- Greyhound Canada - Worldwide courier services
- Novex Clean - Domestic courier services
- Sameday Worldwide - International courier services
- Cardinal Couriers Ltd. - Local courier services
- DTDC Courier Serv
- UPS
- FedEx
- Canpar
- Midland Courier
[edit] Iran
- Payam Air - Domestic and international courier services
- ACC, Ashena Courier Co,
- DHL Iran - Worldwide courier services
- GMS Express Pvt Ltd - domestic International Courier & Cargo
[edit] Russia
- ProfKurier - delivery in Moscow, Courier, Courier delivery, express delivery, courier services
[edit] South Africa
Aerospeed Couriers - Local and international express delivery[3][edit] Other aspects
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[edit] Sameday couriers
Sameday couriers, as the name suggest, pick up and deliver on the ‘same day’. deliver in less than 24 hours and are an integral part of any modern economy. There are roughly seven thousand courier companies in the United States that make up this multi-billion dollar sector. The UK sameday courier industry is highly fragmented with CitySprint assuming the largest portion at around 10 per cent.The business model for the courier industry is particularly dependent on independent contractors. It is estimated that 50-65% of U.S. courier companies use independent contractors to make deliveries in addition to their own dedicated employee resources.[citation needed] The nature of the industry, with its on-demand, often unscheduled delivery model, requires a varying number of courier drivers on any given day and time of day to complete a set service. Experts in this method of network delivery maintain hundreds of standby couriers in a "ready to move" status as devised by Mark Kent, professor of Logistics at the University of Ghent. However, this business model is under threat from IRS Reclassification where IC's are being recategorized as W-2 employees. This reclassification typically results in fines being imposed on the offending courier company.
In December 2007, the Internal Revenue Service of the US 'tentatively decided' that FedEx Ground Division might be facing a tax liability of $319 million for 2002, due to misclassification of its operatives as independent contractors. Reversing a 1994 decision which allowed FedEx to classify its operatives that own their own vehicles, the IRS is auditing the years 2003 to 2006, with a view to assessing whether similar misclassification of operatives has taken place. FedEx denies that any irregularities in classification have taken place, but is facing legal action from operatives claiming benefits that would have accrued had they been classified as employees.[4]
Many expedited courier companies are regional; small businesses which can also provide additional services such as logistics management, archive warehousing, messenger centers, outsourced mailroom services and coordinated airfreight forwarding delivery services.
In the UK, most of the couriers or despatch riders were motorcyclists when the sameday delivery business started to show up in London. These tended to evolved from taxi companies but soon regional courier companies were popping up throughout the country. Starting in the mid 1980s, bicycle couriers, who were more economical for shorter distance deliveries,[5] began to supplant motorcycle couriers in the larger cities. Rising costs, including insurance premiums and petrol, made motorcycle couriers less competitive.[citation needed] Except for the metropolitan areas most of the sameday couriers throughout the country now use small vans to do deliveries. Under the current financial climate the general trend has seen corporate businesses evaluate courier costs and steer away from sameday couriers and tend to sway towards the cheaper next day delivery solution. The exception to this rule is where courier companies have been able to differentiate themselves and develop services aimed at specific business needs. CitySprint, for example, launched SecureData Courier which is a premium SameDay courier service designed for the safe and secure delivery of confidential, valuable and/or sensitive information. The service has a number of unique features such as the use of a single, dedicated courier assigned to each delivery as well as a specialist support team to assist with bookings. With the SecureData Courier service the package is delivered to the addressee only, as opposed to the offices or reception of the recipient, ensuring a seamless hand-over. The entire delivery journey can be tracked on a live, real-time basis from the point of collection providing reassurance as customers can view the exact whereabouts of the package from collection to delivery.
[edit] Customers
These couriers specialize in delivering important or sensitive packages that need to be received in the local area; and/or because of time and temperature concerns, such as organs for transplant or key equipment or parts that are necessary for day to day operations. While most companies use courier services certain industries depend on couriers on a daily basis. Biomedical labs need samples for testing and evaluation, manufacturing industry require parts to keep their plants operating smoothly, financial institutions transfer multiple documents every day between branches and processing centers, law firms must deliver confidential signatured documents on very strict deadlines for court filings and pharmaceutical distributors use couriers to transport medications to hospitals and nursing homes.Even two-day delivery services use courier firms. Items that are mis-sorted, forgotten or just not picked up on a larger couriers route. When a mistake has been discovered, courier firms fill in the gap and ensure packages are delivered on time. One of the leading UK next day couriers APC Overnight ensure that any timed delivery mis-sorted parcels are urgently collected and run to their destination on sameday delivery vehicles to ensure that the customer still receives the service that they paid for.
[edit] Working conditions of couriers
The conditions of employment of couriers vary from country to country, city to city and even company to company. Contracts governing the relationship between individual courier and company are subject as much to customary practice, as local ordinance. In some places couriers are independent contractors paid on commission and do not receive benefits such as health insurance. In other places they will be regular employees of the courier company enjoying all the benefits thereof.In the US, the Obama-Durbin Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act of 2007 was introduced to deal with the problem of workers 'misclassified' as independent contractors.[6] It is not clear what effect this legislation, if enacted, will have on the U.S. courier market. But if, as is the Act's intention, courier companies are forced to treat those workers that they previously declared independent contractors, as employees, with all the benefits thereof, then there is no doubt that costs will rise.
The employment status of the couriers of one of the UK's biggest sameday courier services, CitySprint, was challenged by the GMB trade union in December 2007. The challenge arose from the firm deciding to terminate the contract of one of its self-employed couriers after a series of misdemeanors. At the time the GMB sought to establish that CitySprint's self-employed couriers, currently classified as self-employed sub-contractors should be re-classified as employees. Threats from the GMB went no further and no other correspondence was received by CitySprint.
[edit] See also
- Bicycle messenger
- Casual courier
- Common carrier vs. private carrier
- Diplomatic courier
- Express mail
- Motorcycle courier
- Mule (smuggling)
- Package delivery
- Post riders
- Telegraphy
A courier is a person or a company who delivers messages, packages, and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of services, and committed delivery times, which are optional for most everyday mail services. As a premium service, couriers are usually more expensive than usual mail services, and their use is typically restricted to packages where one or more of these features are considered important enough to warrant the cost.
Different courier services operate on all scales, from within specific towns or cities, to regional, national and global services. The world's largest courier companies are Velox Express, DHL, FedEx, OBC Express Ltd., TNT N.V., UPS, and Aramex.[citation needed] These offer services worldwide, typically via a hub and spoke model.
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[edit] Couriers before the industrial era
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[edit] Development of the modern courier industry
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[edit] Types of couriers
In cities, there are often bicycle couriers or motorcycle couriers but for consignments requiring delivery over greater distance networks, this may often include trucks, railways and aircraft.Many companies who operate under a Just-In-Time or "JIT" inventory method often utilize on-board couriers. On-board couriers are individuals who can travel at a moment's notice anywhere in the world, usually via commercial airlines. While this type of service is the second costliest—general aviation charters are far more expensive—companies analyze the cost of service to engage an on-board courier versus the "cost" the company will realize should the product not arrive by a specified time (i.e. an assembly line stopping, untimely court filing, lost sales from product or components missing a delivery deadline, organ transplants).
[edit] Representative couriers
Over time, demand for a new type of representative courier has emerged. With the increase in fuel prices and productivity goals monitored closely by companies, this new type of all-in-one courier has developed to "take care of business". Workers in companies have more work and less time to be out of the office. Operating largely using independent contractors that have gone through a screening process and background checks have found a niche in the courier industry. Research, intransit pet care, complex paperwork filing, and a host of other services are now offered in this new category of courier service.[edit] Courier industry by country
 | This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008) |
[edit] United Kingdom
The genus of the UK sameday courier market stems from the London Taxi companies but soon expanded into dedicated motorcycle despatch riders with the taxi companies setting up separate arms to their companies to cover the courier work. During the late 1970s small provincial and regional companies were popping up throughout the country. Today, there are many large companies offering next-day courier services, including UK Mail Ltd., City Link Ltd. and UK divisions of worldwide couriers such as APC Overnight, FedEx, DHL, UPS, TNT and Fastway Couriers.There are many 'specialist' couriers usually for the transportation of items such as freight/palettes, sensitive documents and liquids.
The 'Man & Van'/Freelance courier business model is highly popular in the United Kingdom, with thousands upon thousands of independent couriers and localised companies, offering next-day and sameday services. This is likely to be so popular because of the low business requirements (a vehicle) and the lucrative number of items sent within the UK every day. However, since the dawn of the electronic age the way in which businesses use couriers has changed dramatically. Prior to email and the ability to create PDFs, documents represented a significant proportion of the business. However, over the past 5 years documentation revenues have decreased by 50 per cent. In addition customers are also demanding more from their courier partners. Therefore a shift where, more and more, organisations prefer to use the services of larger organisations who are able to provide more flexibility and levels of service is being witnessed which has led to another level of courier company, the regional couriers. This is usually one of the local companies who have expanded to more than one office to cover an area such as LTG Couriers in Yorkshire or London Link in the south and Scarlet Couriers in the Midlands.
CitySprint, in particular, foresaw the changing trends and started buying up these other companies.
Some believe that an advantage of using individual couriers, over an established same day courier firm are that they are able to offer far better rates to their customers. However, in reality, larger organisations are far more flexible and able to offer very cost effective rates to their customers.
Another benefit of using larger courier firms is the added-value services they provide. Many companies now offer PODs online. Lots of the smaller companies and freelance 'Man & Vans' are unable to provide this. CitySprint took this one step further with the launch of its real-time system, CourierLocator which was the UK’s first national, live courier tracking system. The system enables customers to view a real-time map location of the courier undertaking their SameDay courier delivery.
The unrivalled transparency was made possible following CitySprint’s investment in GPS handheld units, namely CityTrakkers. These handheld computers transmit real-time information to and from the CitySprint system enabling CitySprint to have full sight of its entire courier fleet at any time. This is a benefit which is enjoyed by many of CitySprint’s customers.
Royal Mail was up until recently a reasonable competitor of most of the large couriers; offering next day and special delivery services. This has however changed, with higher costs, strike action and a lowering public perception of the company. With companies like Royal Mail & The DX (who offer a private courier 'box network'), it can be difficult to draw a clear-cut line between postal services and couriers.
Some UK couriers offer next-day services to other European countries. FedEx and Interlink Express both offer next-day air delivery to many EU countries. Cheaper 'By-Road' options are also available, varying from 2 days delivery time (e.g. France), to up to a week (e.g. Former USSR countries).
Large couriers often require an account to be held (and this can include daily scheduled collections). Senders are therefore primarily in the commercial/industrial sector (and not the general public); some couriers such as DHL do however allow public sending (at higher cost than regular senders).
[edit] United States
The courier industry has long held an important place in United States commerce and been involved in pivotal moments in the nation's history such as westward migration and the gold rush. Wells Fargo was founded in 1852 and rapidly became the preeminent package delivery company. The company specialized in shipping gold, packages and newspapers throughout the West, making a Wells Fargo office in every camp and settlement a necessity for commerce and connections to home. Shortly afterward, the Pony Express was established to move packages more quickly than the traditional method, which followed the stagecoach routes. It also illustrated the demand for timely deliveries across the nation, a concept that continued to evolve with the railroads, automobiles and interstate highways and which has emerged into today’s courier industry.The Courier industry in the United States is a $59 billion industry, with 86% of the business shared by only four companies, including DHL, FedEx and UPS. The remaining 14% shared among almost 11,900 other small businesses ranging in size from 1 employee to over 600. These businesses comprise of mostly same day deliveries and are strong offline businesses and strong online businesses like Naparex and USA Couriers.
